A major exhibition of works by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser has been drawing unprecedented crowds to Gallery KA7 in Dachau's old town, attracting 400 art enthusiasts in just three weeks without any advertising. The small gallery is showcasing numerous works on paper in various techniques including screen printing, lithography, color etching, and color woodcut, created between 1964 and 1992.
You don't need to have visited a museum to know the works of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. In the 1980s, it was enough to enter a hardware store, a stationery shop, or a furniture store. Hundertwasser motifs adorned mugs, calendars, and refrigerator magnets, with their playful forms and vibrant colors pleasing to the eye. No expertise is required to recognize his work instantly. Few artists of the 20th century managed to achieve such widespread popularity.
Gallery owner Josef Lochner is experiencing this phenomenon firsthand. "That's really amazing," Lochner says, noting how Hundertwasser continues to draw audiences despite harsh criticism from art critics who dismiss his work as kitsch, commercialism, and superficiality. With the same fervor that some hate him, others love him. Those who haven't formed an opinion yet can do so freely at the KA7 gallery.
Among the most historically significant pieces in the exhibition are the color woodcuts "Pacific Steamer" from 1985 and "Pacific Raindrop on Tahiti" from 1989. Hundertwasser was the first European to apply this demanding traditional technique, working alongside a Japanese woodcutter. In keeping with the season, Lochner also has Hundertwasser advent calendars available for 20 euros each.
Characteristic of Hundertwasser's work is the embossing of various colored metal foils into the paper, creating a spatial effect with a shimmering structure. This technique is particularly impressive in the serigraph "Good Morning City," where the glittering effect recalls the golden accents in Gustav Klimt's ornamental paintings. The Art Nouveau artist was indeed an important reference point for Hundertwasser, though he developed his own unique, indeed singular style: organic, living, growing. Or, as he called his painting himself, "vegetative."
Hundertwasser used colors instinctively, showing little interest in theories. He preferred intense, luminous tones and deliberately placed complementary colors next to each other, partly to emphasize the dynamism of his spirals. This form appears repeatedly in his works from 1953 onward and is prominently featured in many paintings in this exhibition. According to art historian Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek, the labyrinthine spiral style has its roots in the traumatic experiences of the years 1938 to 1945. For the Nazis, the man born in Vienna in 1928 as Friedrich Stowasser was considered a "half-Jew." More than 80 of his relatives were deported and murdered in concentration camps, including his grandmother and aunt.
All the works displayed in Dachau are loans from Frankfurt gallerist Peter Femfert, who met Hundertwasser in 1974 while sailing in the Caribbean. The artist's converted salt freighter "Regentag" was anchored next to Femfert's yacht. Femfert found the artist "pretty eccentric, not just because of his colorful socks." However, it didn't take long for the two to build a relationship of trust.
Femfert, then a department head at a U.S. company, quit his job and became a gallerist. Together with Hundertwasser, he developed one of the most elaborate editions ever to come to the art market: "Homo Humus Come Va How Do you do – 10,002 Nights." Inspired by "1001 Nights," but 1,001 copies weren't enough for the artist – it had to be 10,002. "It was important to Hundertwasser that his works be available to everyone," Femfert explains.
Number 211 can be seen in Dachau: a silver-foiled onion tower against a light blue background, below it a round face with two mouths and six eyes. There are 10,001 other versions – different colors, different foils, each sheet had to be unique. Hundertwasser insisted on this. The printing costs of 100,000 marks naturally had to be paid by Femfert – plus one million marks in fees for the artist. "Things really rattled around here," says the Frankfurt gallerist, patting his chest with his hand.
Hundertwasser also tried his hand as an architect and built as he painted: colorful and round. He rejected straight lines, considering them a symbol of oppression and an expression of rationalism that separates humans from nature. The ceramic vase in the shape of a "flower house" provides corresponding visual material on a small scale.
Visitors can also simply stop by the "Hundertwasser House," as Dachau residents call the striking blue building of the Denk bakery on Munich Street. Although not built by Hundertwasser himself, it was designed in the style and spirit of Friedensreich Hundertwasser for nature-friendly and humane living. On Saturday, October 25, at 3:15 PM, after the gallery closes, Peter Denk will report on site about the creation and execution of this fascinating project.
The Friedensreich Hundertwasser exhibition continues at Gallery KA7, Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse 7 in Dachau. Opening hours are Thursday 4-7 PM, Saturday 12-3 PM, Sundays and holidays 2-5 PM, and by appointment. For more information, contact 08131/66 78 18 or 0162/455 96 99.
